FTSE Deteriorates On Housebuilders

Wednesday, 17th October: A handful of housebuilders were at the bottom of the FTSE index this morning, Crest Nicholson suffering the most and falling to lows which were last recorded in 2013 after they warned the market of lower full-year profits, between £10 million and £30 million lower than previously forecast to be precise. In addition to this cut, the third-largest homebuilder in Britain by market value has also sold off land, they intend to increase bulk sales, and slow down building rates, all with the hope of being able to survive during the difficult period for the sector. To top all of this off, the CFO Robert Allen also announced he would be stepping down from his role at Crest, and the current CEO will be taking on his responsibilities until a replacement is found. Having started the day almost 15.0% lower, the negative sentiment calmed down throughout the day and by the afternoon the group were around 5.0% lower.

Having been pushed up yesterday by positive wage growth data, sterling today has taken a small hit as inflation data missed expectations, which has also offered relief to consumers who have had to pull the reign on spending since the Brexit vote took place. Consumer prices increased at a rate of 2.4%, lower than August’s 2.7% and forecasts of 2.6%. Sterling fell by roughly 0.3% against USD and hit a low of $1.3126 before marginally recovering.

The FTSE managed to straighten out before the close but not enough to mitigate the negative effects of the housebuilders, which weighed heavily on both the 100 and 250 for the entirety of the day. The FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 closed 0.07% and 0.71% lower respectively.